Chapter 3
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Their activity for the morning was archery. Hooch and McGonagall split them up together as duos. There were only 4 spots, so it’d take quite a while for all of them to get a chance to participate.
James got paired with Shacklebolt, and, genuinely, it was hilarious to watch him hiss at the boy everytime he dared touch his arms. They fought more than helped each other, and when James returned to Sirius’ side, he was mumbling nonsense insults.
Marlene and Macdonald, on the other hand, seemed to work quite well. Marlene would hold Mary’s arms, chin on her shoulder as she helped her aim better, and Mary watched thoughtfully how Marlene did everything on her own.
“Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, you must take the third spot.”
“Actually, Hooch. I want to be paired with Sirius,” Lily stands up.
A sparkle of happiness comes across Sirius’ body until he notices the sharp tone in her voice, and God, he was fucked.
He eyed Lupin, who was shaking his head at her, as if he wanted to stop her from being paired up with him.
Fuck.
“I’m sorry, Miss Evans–”
“Please. Just one time. Afterwards, Remus and Sirius can go together, what do you think?” she suggests, “It’s just that Remus is brilliant at archery, and Sirius is horrible.”
“That is why they should help each other.”
“Hooch, please.”
“… Okay. Go on.”
Sirius was horrible at archery, and for that he believed that Lupin was most definitely as brilliant as Lily claims, because that’s Lupin. He’s brilliant at everything.
They walk together in silence, and Sirius is picking the bow from the floor, and handing it to Lily, “You go first.”
“No, Padfoot. You go,” she smiles, pushing his hands back, “I want to help you.”
“Lily, I’m extremely scared of you right now,” he chooses to admit, and she laughs quietly, “you got that angry look on you.”
“Just… go.” Sirius picks up the quiver, placing it around his shoulders before getting the arrow. When he tries to position himself, Lily holds his arms, mouth against his ear. His heart goes cold as she speaks, “Why on earth are you being a prick to Remus?”
“Excuse me?” his arms softly give in, but she holds them right back into place.
“A little birdy told me about yesterday night, before we came into the cabin. And your shitty little comments on the camp. So tell me, Padfoot, why are you being a prick to him?”
“I- I’m not.”
“Right there,” she says, “Your arm goes like this,” she pulls his arm back, “now shoot.”
His eyes are not even focused on the target, and the absence of Lily’s hold makes him fail miserably. Arrow landing on the floor way farther than where it was supposed to land.
“Lils, I’m sorry,” he turns his head around. Her face remains calm, anyway.
“You should be,” she states, “He’s my friend, and he’s an amazing person. I want you to give me a reason for why you’re acting like that.”
He opens his mouth, suddenly feeling extremely awful by all of it, but not specifically for Lupin.
“You spend so much time with him,” he chooses to be honest, because lying to Lily is impossible, “I don’t get good vibes from him, Lils. Seriously, that bloke hates my guts!”
Lily moves her head back, quietly. Sirius could’ve missed it if he had blinked. She frowns, and then laughs, “Remus doesn’t hate you.”
“Yes, yes he does. He hates me, and I feel like you’re forgetting me and James, and Pete, Emme, Am, Fab… all because of him and his friends.”
“You’re jealous,” she states.
“Yes.”
“Padfoot, that’s silly,” Lily laughs, “I love you, and I love our friends; but Remus is my friend just as much.”
“You– you sat next to him on the bus.”
Her hands lay softly on his shoulders, “Padfoot…”
“And I’m serious about him giving me creep vibes. He just– he stares, Lily. That boy is planning my murder, I’m telling you.”
With that, Lily is chuckling. Hard and loud.
“Gosh, Sirius. Remus isn’t planning on killing you, he’s just… introverted. He doesn’t know you, or Pete and Jamie,” she explains, “You should make him feel welcome instead of hated, Sirius. I’m still mad at you, for the record. I’m very pissed right now, and I want you to make it up for him, alright?”
“What?” he lets out.
“Be nice to Remus. Stop being a possessive arsehole and actually talk to him. You’ll see Remus is amazing.”
Sirius gulps, deciding to ignore the fact that he hates Lupin also because he cannot stand hearing everyone speak that way about him. He’s brilliant, amazing, perfect… fuck that. Sirius was once all of that too, for Lily and the teachers.
“Hooch!” Lily yells out, “Sirius sucks awfully at this. Can he be paired up with Remus?”
“Lils, no,” Sirius grabs the edge of her white crop top.
“Mr.Lupin?” Hooch looks at Lupin, who lets out a strangled noise before standing up awkwardly. Once again, his hands are in his front pockets before pacing slowly towards Sirius and Lily.
“He’s really terrible at this,” Lily pats Lupin’s chest, “Good luck, and have fun.”
And then, she’s gone.
Lupin licks his lips, and blinks at Sirius. It was probably him who told her all of that, and Sirius feels ashamed. He couldn’t bring himself to apologise, so, instead, he just waved the bow at him, “Care to help?”
“Sure,” he shrugs, but stays still.
“Are you really as good as she claims you are?”
“I used to live in the countryside,” he begins to explain, “My father taught me a lot of things, like archery. I’m a bit rusty now, but I think I should be fine.”
Sirius nods carefully, “Alright. Then, help me out, country boy.”
There’s a ghost of a smile on Lupin’s lips before he’s going behind Sirius. He looks down, seeing how his legs were spread, feet on each side of Sirius’ body as he got himself closer. There’s a cold feeling running through his stomach when Lupin’s mouth gets close to the side of his face.
“Okay. You’re going to get your arm up here,” he mutters in a husky voice, and his fingers wrap around Sirius’ upper arm, stepping to the side to pull it backwards, “and, you got to focus really hard on the target, alright?”
“Mhm.”
“You gotta hold the arrow between your pointer and middle finger,” Sirius does as he’s told, but then, Lupin speaks again, “Your ring finger should be there as well, like this.”
Lupin’s hand is on his, and his fingers move Sirius’ around like he’s made of plasticine. There’s not a muscle in his body holding back.
His breath is hot against Sirius’ ear, and the boy is licking his lips. Target. Focus on the target.
“Alright,” he hears a quiet laugh, and Sirius stills completely, wanting more of it, “hold the bow strongly, and stabilise your hands.” Sirius doubts he can be stable at the moment, “Eyes on the target. Take your time.”
Lupin steps away, and Sirius gazes at him for a couple seconds. He then remembers it’s Lupin, and mentally curses himself.
He closes one of his eyes, trying to aim as perfectly as possible, and then shoots. He doesn’t get the centre, but at least the arrow didn’t get stuck in a bush or something. He lets a laugh out of his throat, dropping his arms to stare at Lupin.
“I’m a natural,” he brags, and Lupin shakes his head in a smile.
“You didn’t reach the yellow.”
Sirius rolls his eyes, “Just admit I am perfect at everything I do, Lupin.”
“Sure, Black.”
Sirius hands him the bow and the quiver, and then, they shift places. Remus is faster than him, holding the bow and the arrow as if he does this every single day — his arms flex, and his chest moves harshly as he stabilises his entire body. Then, he’s shooting. Sirius follows the arrow, and watches it hit the red circle, close to the yellow.
He’s impressed, but instead of saying it, he shakes his shoulders, “You didn’t get the yellow.”
Lupin chuckles, “Wanna go again?”
Sirius nods.
This time, he gets to hit the blue circle, and jumps like a little kid. Lupin is grinning at him, and Sirius blinks softly, gulping at the realisation that hits his body once his eyes land on Lupin’s mullet, and Lupin’s arms. Lupin’s crooked teeth, and his big nose.
Alright, Remus might be an absolute wanker, but Sirius had to give him attractiveness points.
“I think we cannot be here forever,” Sirius says, “But this was fun, Lupin. You’re a good teacher.”
“I’d hope so.”
Sirius’ eyes glimmer as he crooks his head, “Why?”
“I want to be a teacher, actually.”
“Oh,” It fits him, Sirius thinks. Even his clothes screamed ‘professor’, “What’d you wanna teach?”
“Literature.”
Sirius lets out a guttural chuckle, “That’s so pretentious!”
“Oh, is it?” he teases back, “What do you wanna be, then?”
“I don’t know,” Sirius shrugs, “A sexy super model. Maybe I’ll end up on Only Fans,” he hears Lupin bark a laugh, “What?! My body is the best part of me.”
“You’re unbelievable. Can you ever be serious about something?”
“I’m always Sirius, ain’t I?”
His grin twists around his face, and Lupin looks at him up and down. Smirk still on his lips before he’s walking away. Sirius follows him with his eyes, and then, he realises how he’s still standing in the archery spots, class surrounding him. He cleans his throat, and returns to his previous place, sitting next to James.
“So you’re like– friends now?”
“Don’t speak on it.”
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Sirius quits on being a dick to Remus for the following day. Although they didn’t share the same happy, funny moment as they did back at the archery, Sirius stopped being sarcastic to him, even when he wanted to.
“Fuck,” Peter hisses, aggressively trying to pull his ring off his ring finger, “It’s not coming out!”
“Pete, your finger is swollen,” James rushes towards him, “Why did you even put that on?!”
“It’s pretty!”
Sirius moves off his bed, stepping closer with concern on his face once he recognises his ring there. Peter had bigger hands. Sirius has no idea how the finger even fit in the first place.
“It’s Sirius’! Have you seen the size of his fingers?! Fuck’s sake. Call Pomfrey!” James’ voice rises in a failed attempt of keeping calm.
Sirius is moving towards the door when Lupin stand s up from Gideon’s empty bed, “You don’t have to,” he says, “Come here. Just put soap around your finger,” he holds Peter’s shoulders, walking him towards the bathroom.
The boy follows, still trying to get the ring off.
Sirius watches them from the cabin’s door. His hand rests against the wood as Lupin spreads soap all across Peter’s finger, “Now play dead,” he orders, “Relax your hand, seriously.” Peter whines, staring at his hand, but eventually does what Lupin asks, “There you go…” he moves the ring from side to side on Peter’s now soft hand, and slowly, it starts moving out of his finger.
Fucking hell, Sirius thinks. How does he even know that?
“Done,” he smiles down at Peter, “Here, Sirius.”
Sirius blinks, disbelieved by the use of his first name. When Lupin stretches his hand out, he walks slowly towards him, taking the ring from his hand. It’s slick from the soap, making the sensation rather uncomfortable.
“Thanks, Lupin.”
Lupin nods, and turns to Peter again, “Your finger will go back to normal.
“Where’d you learn that?” Sirius questions, “Your dad?”
There’s something in Lupin’s eyes that tells him that he’s glad Sirius remembers the mention of his father.
“My nan, actually.”
“It makes sense,” he laughs in a breath, “the technique, I mean. If you just keep pulling, it’ll fasten your blood circulation block.”
“Exactly, and if your finger gets far too swollen, it’ll be a challenge to take that off,” Lupin laughs at Peter, who’s still staring at his finger.
“Thought I’d have to chop it off,” he whines.
“Don’t be dramatic, Wormtail,” James rolls his eyes, “Your finger will not be chopped off.”
“Yeah, and next time, maybe don’t use my rings when you know my hand is smaller than you,” Sirius hisses, and Peter scoffs, disappointed.
“It’s pretty.”
“We’ll get one your size, eh?” James reassures, walking across the small space between Lupin and the door. He wraps his arm around the boy’s shoulders, and shakes him softly before he’s washing his hands.
Lupin doesn’t say anything more before returning to Gideon’s bed, picking up the book he was reading before and leaning against the wall to focus on it.
Sirius plays with the ring on his hand, wrapping his fingers around it before cleaning it against his trousers.
He wanted to ask Lupin how many survival skills he knew, but instead, he just buried the wet ring in his pocket, and grinned at his friends, tapping James’ shoulder before they walked out the cabin together.
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“Go, Padfoot!” Lily yelled from below. Sirius had his hands on the holds, body shaking as he tried to maintain himself there. He looks down, legs going frozen at the height.
“Hold the crimp!” he heard Emmeline say, and reached his left hand to the hold right next to him.
His fingers were sweating, and he could feel himself slipping. As a little kid, Sirius had tried climbing — his uncle Alphard was very much into it, and managed to give Sirius a few private classes before Walburga was snapping him out of it, claiming that her brother was putting her son’s life in risk.
He knew what he had to do, but after so many years away from climbing, Sirius was afraid he didn’t even have enough strength anymore.
He throws his head back, and looks up. Almost there, he thinks, and keeps climbing. There are cheers coming from his friends, a smirk is placed on his face as motivation makes itself heard.
“Shite,” a groan is heard, and Sirius turns his head in time to watch Lupin let go of the holds, letting his body fall on the big blue mattress on the floor. He hadn’t gone much further than Mulciber on Sirius’ other side, and noticing that he was now closer than ever to winning, Sirius closed his eyes and kept going up.
It was just him and Mulciber now. Lupin had lost. Even if Mulciber managed to win first place, Sirius would still hold to the small victory of being better than Lupin at something.
“Are you okay?” he hears Lily’s voice.
“Tired,” Lupin replies in a laugh that brings Sirius back to the day at the archery. With that, his fingers slip, but Sirius throws his arm up instead of letting himself give in.
Mulciber starts climbing faster, and Sirius puts up with it. A few more minutes, and Sirius reaches the top. He yells out, and waves back at his friends.
“Sirius wins!” Amelia applauds, bringing more cheers with us, “He won!”
Mulciber grunts, and then, he’s slowly getting down by the rope, laying softly on the mattress. He’s pissed, and Sirius is thrilled.
He closes his eyes, shaking his head in a celebratory howl, and then, he’s down as well.
Lily jumps in his arms, and he wraps his hands on her waist as she squirms happily.
His eyes go to Lupin, standing there with a soft smile, and then, he sees him mouthing something close to ‘congratulations’
Sirius shrugs in the hug, clapping his eyelashes at Lupin in proudness. Instead of taking it poorly, the boy just shakes his head.
“I knew those classes I had when I was 8 were for something,” Sirius comments when Marlene approaches him.
“That was rather impressive,” she admits, “I’ll probably lose in the first thirty seconds.”
“Don’t say that, Marls,” James shakes her shoulders from behind her, “You’ll win.”
“I’m going against Shacklebolt and Lyre. I’m fucked.”
“What? You think Kingsley Shacklebolt is better than you?!” There is contempt in his voice when he proclaims the name.
“Yeah,” she breathes out, as if that’s an obvious statement everyone agrees on, “Have you seen him? He could break my back with just a hash hold,” her hands wrap around herself, bending over as she acts the situation out.
Lily and Sirius laugh, while James just blinks incredulously. He opens his mouth, and lands his hands on his hips as his eyes travel between his friends.
“You’re far better than him. You have passion in you, McKinnon,” his finger pokes her chest, “You’ll crash that show off.”
The blonde turns her head side to side in a weak smile, “Sure, Jamie. We’ll see, then. Wanna bet?”
“A hundred percent,” his hand is stretched out, and Marlene doesn’t hesitate before shaking it harshly.
“If I lose, you owe me 60 pounds. If I win, I…”
“You have to give me your heart sunglasses,” he smirks as terror takes over Marlene’s face.
Ever since Marlene bought those sunglasses, James has never stopped begging for her to let him borrow it. It was pathetic, really, because he had enough money to buy a pair for himself — yet, the fun was the fact that it was Marlene’s.
Lily bites her lip to restrain a laugh, and Sirius waits for the girl’s answer.
“You’re never getting those glasses, Potter.”
“You better lose, then.”
“You can’t cheat, Marls,” Lily warns, “Give the best of you.”
The girl squints at her friend. Knowing Marlene like they do, it was obvious that she’d throw herself on the mattress as soon as her feet were off the ground just so James wouldn’t get her sunglasses.
Once Marlene, Shacklebolt and Lyre are correctly positioned, Hooch blows the whistle, and they’re climbing. As expected, Shacklebolt is fast, he climbs as if it’s something natural for him. Marlene, though, is right behind him — she could turn the tables any second.
Meanwhile, Lyre was struggling with finding a hold where his fingers wouldn’t slip off.
James screams something along the lines: destroy him; and the time Shacklebolt took to shoot a harsh look at James, was the time Marlene used to surpass him. They cheer, and Sirius finds himself holding onto Fabian’s arm, using it as support while he bounces in his place.
“You can do it! Go, Marls!” Amelia shouts.
“Faster, King!” Macdonald cuts in, and Shacklebolt obeys as he increases his speed.
Then, Lupin is placing his pointer and thumb between his lips, whistling before clapping at his friend. It’s a perfect, loud sound, and Sirius does exactly the same, just to prove he was good at whistling too.
It’s not as loud, but the sound is sharp enough to make his ears ring, “Let’s go!”
Surprisingly, Lyre catches up on the strategies, and soon enough, he’s reaching Marlene and Shacklebolt. Noticing the threat, Kingsley grunts, and pulls off a bold move as he takes advantage of his long arms to reach a hold way too far from where he’s standing. Now, he’s in front, and Marlene is freezing before going after him.
It doesn’t take long before Lyre slips, and falls on the mattress. Marlene climbs a little bit more, and then, she’s falling too.
“No!” James screeched, speeding towards the girl spreaded on the mattress, eyes closed and chest moving quickly.
Then, the blonde smirks between the cheering coming from Shacklebolt’s friends, “I’m waiting for my 60 pounds,” she opens her eyes, “and no sunglasses for you,” Marlene adds.
The boy whimpers in disappointment, and throws his arms up before glancing at Sirius, who simply shrugs at him, unable to do anything against Marlene’s statement.
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“I was thinking,” Amelia throws her legs on top of Fabian’s legs as they sit by the lake, “maybe we could do something fun.”
“We’ve been having loads of fun,” the red-head replies.
“No, yes,” she’s quick to begin her explanation, “but we’ve been doing activities and chatting. What about having fun as a group? Without being paired with random people we don’t even like.”
There’s a silence of consideration, “And what can we do?” Peter asks, “We can’t go too far, and our phones are basically off limits.”
“We can have fun without phones, Petey,” Amelia leans on her elbows, “We could… uh– swim!”
“Swim?”
“The lake is right here,” she points at the water just a few feet away from them.
“I’m not sure if I trust that water,” James mutters.
Sirius’ eyes linger on the lake. It’s not either blue or crystal clear — which was fine. Yet, the nearly brown tone made his spine shiver.
“Yeah,” he agrees.
“Just for a bit? Please?” she tries, and obviously, Emmeline is quick to stand up, grinning down at the group
“Let’s go, then. It’s hell out here, and I could make good use of freshwater.”
“Mm, and are we supposed to do what? Go skinny dipping?” James crooks his head.
“Didn’t you bring bath clothes?” Lily questions, getting up on her feet as well.
“We’ll go back to our cabins, change, and go swim.”
“Are we even allowed to swim?” Marlene ponders.
“We’ll never find out if we don’t swim,” Amelia argues back.
As usual, they were right. They weren’t going to spend a week restraining their fun to school activities and secret night hang outs, would they?
Sirius, Peter and James jog back to their cabin, actively searching for swimming shorts. James realises then he hasn’t brought any, so Peter throws him one of his pairs. It’s a bit loose on him, but James manages to tie a shoe lace around his waist to keep it from falling down his knees.
As soon as they’re walking outside; James shirtless and Sirius spreading sunscreen across his face, Hagrid stops in front of them.
“Where are you boys going?”
They still, sharing a few looks, before Peter decides to take the lead, “We were going for a little swim, Hagrid! It’s very hot, and the lake is just so deliciously looking at us, I mean.” The man squints, but that doesn’t stop Peter, “I promise we won’t get too far from camp. Actually, you can keep your eyes on us. We’re swimming there,” he points at where Fabian and Marlene were already standing. By the bonfire, anyone could have a perfect sight of them.
“There aren’t any dangerous fishes on the sea, are there?” James asks. Obviously, there weren’t. Unless it was piranhas.
Sirius is sure he would’ve seen a crocodile already if there were any.
“No, there is not. The lake is quite deep, nonetheless; so be careful. I’ll be watching you boys, and I want you here as soon as the activities start.”
“You got it,” Sirius snaps his fingers at the man, winking as he grabs Peter’s wrists, walking away with his friends.
“Now I’m a bit concerned.” James admits, “What if there’s a deadly fish that no one has caught before?”
“Then I guess you’ll be leaving us, mate.”
James scrunches up his face, and Peter is chuckling as he and Sirius jog forward, leaving him behind.
“That’s mean!”
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Sirius held James’ and Emmeline’s hands. The eight of them stood in a line, swinging their bodies in order to get ready to jump on the water.
“One…” Lily starts.
“Two…” Peter joins, and then, they all scream ‘three!’ before running together, letting go of each other’s hands to throw their arms in the arm, falling in the water.
Sirius feels all his problems disappear once he’s submerged. his finger and thumb pressed his nostrils together, and his eyes were shut. He couldn’t see or hear anything, only feel. The water was cold around him, and it disconnected him from reality.
As a child, he used to take swimming classes. It was a family thing. His brother, Regulus, chose to pursue a professional life out of it, just like their cousin Narcissa and their grandfather, Pollux.
It has been years since Sirius had the opportunity of feeling the water, and right now, he wonders why he didn’t choose to make a life out of it just like Reggie did.
His body comes back to the surface, and he’s gasping for oxygen, shaking his head like a dog under the rain. Bouncing and moving his legs, Sirius opens his eyes. Marlene is floating already, eyes closed as she embraces the sunlight. James and Fabian pushed each other, splashing water around; Peter swimmed around his friends, and Emmeline and Amelia fiercely kissed while Lily returned from underwater.
“I’m freezing!” she exclaims, laughing hysterically.
It was, in fact, cold. However, Sirius would rather have hypothermia right now than sticking around on his own sweat.
“It’s refreshing, Evans!” James says, and throws his body back. His entire face underwater as Fabian drums on his legs, grinning before pulling them. In a startle, James returns in a deep gasp, “You little asshole!” he jumps onto Fabian, and they’re both submerging together.
Sirius laughs, and dives forward, welcoming silence once again. He could open his eyes, but something about this water didn’t make him safe enough to do so.
“Rem!” it’s the first thing he hears when he’s back up. Breathing heavily, Sirius turns around to catch Lily clumsily swimming towards the edge, not close enough to have her body against the dirt, but not as far as she was before.
Lupin stood there, hands in his pockets as usual, and a polite smile on his lips. He had a social white shirt with the first two buttons completely open, revealing a bit of his chest. His brown trousers came all the way to his rib cage, and Lord, the accessories made Sirius’ lips part softly.
“Having fun?” he asks, but just to Lily.
“Come join us!”
“No,” he shakes his head politely, “I don’t fancy swimming.”
“Oh, please! Go grab something and come swim with us. The water is refreshing, as some said,” Lily gives him a throaty laugh.
Lupin lets his teeth skin against his lip, but still declines the offer, “I was just passing by,” he says, “but you have fun, yeah?”
“C’mon, Lupin, don’t be a proper tosser,” Sirius lifts one side of his lips, swimming closer to Lily.
There’s a soft roll of eyes coming from the boy, before he’s speaking once again, this time in a playful tone, “And how can I know you’re not planning on drowning me, Black?”
“You’d have to find out,” he decides to go along.
Lupin looks around in a deep breath, “I don’t have clothes for it.”
“Don’t make excuses,” Peter says, “Skinny dipping is a thing.”
Lupin throws his head back in a chuckle, “I’m not swimming naked.”
Sirius drifts away slowly, eyes still on Lupin as he watches him strip. First, he’s taking his shoes off, and then, his trousers. Sirius’ mouth goes dry at the sight of his thighs. He had some scars there — they were smaller than the others, but he could still see them.
There’s a knot in his stomach when Sirius thinks Lupin would actually take off his underwear, but instead, the boy just opens his shirt and lets it fall on the floor before he’s jumping on the water.
Fuck, Sirius thinks, and then Lupin is surfacing with a wet hair, he’s hot.
His cheeks flush at the thought, and Sirius allows himself to dive again, swimming as far as possible.
Sirius knows he’s gay. He knows he’s extremely attracted to men and would rather live in a cage than having to spend his life on a woman’s side. It doesn’t scare him to find another man hot, because he does it a lot — but it’s Lupin.
Lupin who, besides making Sirius feel bad about himself and his intelligence, — although he’s aware how smart he is — is always taking the attention off those he loves the most. Lupin who walks around as if the world owes him something just because he’s here. Lupin who is extremely annoying. Yet, he’s also a very gorgeous human being.
The minutes go by, and at some point, Emmeline is on Lupin’s shoulders as she fights to take down Marlene, whose legs are surrounding Fabian’s throat.
Sirius can’t help but watch the way his chest flexes, and follow the path of his scars whenever he moves up. There’s where he had the biggest scars — his chest. They’re practically covering his entire upper body.
A big one goes from his collarbone, drawn in a diagonal line. There are other ones on his ribs, and shoulders. When Remus jumped backwards, Sirius couldn’t help but have his eyes drawn to the scar that went from his belly button down, disappearing at the start of his underwear — which was soaked, and Sirius wished he didn’t think about the shape of his cock.
It’s okay, he thinks to himself in a motivational smile, annoying people can be hot.
“Pads. Let’s see which one of us can hold their breath for longer,” James says, more as an order than a request, “C’mon.”
“You know I’ll win, Prongs. It’s useless for you to try,” once he finishes his sentence, Marlene is falling back into the water, and Emmeline is shouting, Lupin spinning them around in a laugh before throwing her down as well.
“We’ll see that. Amy, come count the time we stay underwater,” he calls, and Amelia immediately approaches them.
“Me and James will see which one of us has better control of our lungs,” Sirius explains, “and I’ll obviously win, but a boy can dream, right, Prongs?”
“I’m an athlete, Pads. You could never compete.”
“And I’m extremely talented in water,” he shrugs, and then nods at Amelia.
The girl raises her hand, counting to five as she puts her fingers down one by one, “Now!” she giggles, and Sirius’ sight is resumed to pitch black.
He’s not sure how long he kept himself underneath the water. His throat eventually started closing, and he could feel his heart pulsating on his ears. He kept holding and holding, until he was involuntarily surfacing.
His eyes are still closed as he catches his breath, and when he blinks, James is already up, Lily’s arms around his neck as she laughs.
“I won?” Sirius asks, hopeful.
“James lasted 10 seconds, you lasted 40.”
“Fuck yeah!” he throws his arms up, and James rolls his eyes.
“I felt like sneezing,” he justifies, and Sirius splashes water on him.
“No excuses, Prongs. You lost.”
“Should this mean you owe me 70 pounds, now?” Marlene shoots her shot, but James flips her off before she can even propose anything more.
There’s laughter shaking the lake around them as they keep playing, swimming and pushing the others under the water. Time stretches for longer than it should, and everytime Sirius remembers they’ll have to be out of there by 3, he refuses to ask the current time just so he could pretend this moment would last forever.
He’s floating then, eyes closed, arms and legs spread as he feels the water moving him around. The sun burns his skin, but it’s a good contrast to the cold water. His soul refreshes itself as his heart sits in peace amongst the loud noises coming from his friends.
God, he fucking loved this camp.
A hand lands on his stomach, and Sirius loses his balance, embarrassingly submerging him up to the neck. Heart beating against his throat as he hears Lupin cackle — and Sirius goes along.
“Wanker!” he splashes water on the boy, and Lupin just turns his face around.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he’s honest, “you were just going too far.”
The laugh ceases, and now, Lupin is just looking at him with a short smile. Sirius looks over his shoulder to find himself rather distant from the rest of the group.
“Worried about my life, Lupin?”
“Worried about everyone’s life, Black.”
“Tell me, what are other survival skills for when someone is drowning?” his arms swing around as he smiles at Lupin. Even under the water, he’s still taller than Sirius.
“I know how to do CPR,” he shrugs, “water is not really my thing, though.”
“Of course you do,” Sirius sighs, “you know how to do everything, apparently. Wouldn’t be surprised if you told me you knew how to build a house by yourself.”
Lupin is laughing, and Sirius feels like the best person ever for that.
“I’m also not into architecture.”
“Right, you’re into pompous shit like gay poets from the 19th century,” Sirius mocks, taking a glimpse of the sky for brief seconds before he’s back at Lupin. However, he’s not smiling anymore; there’s a ghost of a raise of lips, but he’s pressing his eyebrows together, almost confused at what Sirius had said.
“What do you mean?”
Oh.
Right, Lupin was gay, and Lupin had no idea Sirius was, too.
“I– No– I didn’t– not like that. It’s not because you’re gay, I– I am gay! It wasn’t– I wasn’t— mocking you. I mean I was, but not because of you as in your sexuali–”
“Chill,” Lupin laughs through his nose, raising his hands to stop Sirius from rambling, “I get it. It’s fine, Sirius.”
A relieved laugh comes out of him once he sees that Lupin actually means the ‘it’s fine’, because his eyes are moving up to match his smile.
“Right,” he laughs, but doesn’t have time to continue their talk before there’s a loud chuckle coming from behind them.
“Oh, you’re so not challenging me,” James has his arms crossed, staring up at Shacklebolt standing next to MacDonald.
“Scared of losing, Potter?”
“I just don’t want to humiliate you, Shacklebolt.”
Sirius peered at Lupin, who seemed as interested as Sirius, without sharing a word, they swam towards the group.
“What’s happening?”
Sirius questions, and Amelia is pleased to reply, “Shacky here just challenged James for a race.”
“Oh.”
“I’m not doing it,” James shrugs, eyes locked on Shacklebolt, returning the grin the other had on his lips.
There’s disappointed howls, and then Shacklebolt is shaking his head, “It’s okay, Potter is just highly aware he can never beat me.”
“C’mon, mate,” Sirius whispers as he grows closer to James, “shut his mouth.”
His friend glances at him, pondering the proposition before he’s sighing, “I’ll go. Meet me at 10:30 by the bonfire. MacDonald, Marls, would you mind watching over so we’re not caught?”
“That’s after curfew,” MacDonald reminds.
“That’s not a problem, unless Shacklebolt is scared of the dark. Are you scared of the dark, Shacklebolt?”
The boy bits the inside of his cheek, “It’s a deal. We will run from the bonfire to the woods, circulate the campus and return to the bonfire from the opposite side of it.” He crouches, stretching his hand, and James takes it with no hesitation. Both of their arms tension at the force of the shake.
“We have a deal then.”
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